On the basis of a partnership of 136 runs in 163 balls for the third wicket between Sarfaraz Khan (70 not out) and Virat Kohli (70), India won its second innings against New Zealand here on Friday, the third day of the first Test of the three-match series. Made a strong comeback by reaching 231 runs for three wickets.
However, the team suffered a blow with the dismissal of Kohli on the last ball of the day, who became the fourth batsman for India to complete 9000 runs in Tests during his 102-ball innings. The ball from Glenn Phillips (1 wicket for 36 runs) took the outer edge of his bat and went on the gloves of wicketkeeper Tom Blundell. He got good support from the other end from Sarfaraz who hit seven fours and three sixes in his swashbuckling unbeaten innings of 70 balls.
The Indian team, which trailed by 356 runs in the first innings, is still 125 runs behind New Zealand. Earlier in the second session of the day, New Zealand’s first innings was limited to 402 runs. Rachin Ravindra played a brilliant inning of 134 runs in 157 balls with the help of 13 fours and four sixes. He dominated the match with Tim Southee (65) by making a partnership of 137 runs for the eighth wicket. Southee hit five fours and four sixes in his 73-ball innings.
India needed a good start to stay in the match. The pair of captain Rohit Sharma (52) and young Yashasvi Jaiswal (35) did the same. Both of them batted with caution and did not allow the tea break team to suffer any setback. During this, Rohit hit brilliant fours by flicking, while Jaiswal took the ball across the boundary line in the cover area. In the last session of the day, Ajaz Patel (2 wickets for 70 runs) gave two big blows to India.
On his ball, Jaiswal made a mistake while coming out of the crease to play a big shot and Blundell scattered the wickets. Rohit completed his half-century against Henry by hitting fours, sixes and fours in consecutive balls, but in the next over, Patel’s ball took the edge of his bat and hit the wickets. He scored a half-century in 63 balls with the help of eight fours and one six. After this, Kohli took the responsibility of shaping the innings and focused on finding space among the fielders, while Sarfaraz adopted an aggressive attitude.
After hitting fours on a sweep shot against Patel, he hit a six over point and a four off a ramp shot against O’Rourke. After spending time at the crease, Kohli also hit a six and hit two fours in the over, using his steps against Patel. During this period, New Zealand’s bowlers were on the backfoot due to India’s aggressive batting. Sarfaraz completed his half-century in 42 balls by taking one run against Henry in the 37th over of the Indian innings.
Kohli also scored the 31st half-century of this bowler’s Test career in the next over. In the last hour of the day’s play, both of them concentrated on batting carefully. During this, Kohli completed 9000 runs of his Test career by taking one run against William O’Rourke. He hit two fours against Phillips but the same bowler weakened India’s morale a bit by walking him in the last over of the day.
Earlier, after starting the day with 180 runs for three wickets, Indian bowlers led by Ravindra Jadeja (three wickets for 72 runs) gave four blows to New Zealand in the first hour of the game, taking the team’s score to 233 runs for seven wickets. Jasprit Bumrah (1 wicket for 41 runs) and Mohammed Siraj (2 wickets for 82 runs) troubled the New Zealand batsmen by bowling with better line lengths. Both of them also tasted success during this period.
On the ball of Siraj, Daryl Mitchell (18) gave an easy catch to Jaiswal after adding four more runs to his 14 runs of the previous day. After this, Bumrah dismissed Tom Blundell (five runs) to Lokesh Rahul standing at second slip. After losing two wickets in 11 runs, New Zealand’s batsmen were under some pressure but Glenn Phillips (14), who came to the crease, hit a big six against Kuldeep Yadav (3 wickets for 99 runs).
Jadeja brought India back into the match by bowling Glenn Phillips and then Matt Henry (five) with his incoming balls on a double-paced pitch. Now it seemed that the Indian team would make New Zealand’s tail batsmen go quickly but Southee adopted an aggressive stance and reduced the pressure on Ravindra and quickly took New Zealand’s lead close to 300 runs in the first session.
Ravindra batted cautiously in difficult batting conditions during the opening hour and when the pitch became less supportive of the bowlers, he scored runs with ease playing shots around the ground. This batsman made excellent use of his steps against the spinners. He blunted the spin of experienced bowlers like Ravichandran Ashwin (1 wicket for 94 runs), Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav by playing on the front foot and ahead of the crease with effective use of the sweep shot.
He reached 94 runs by hitting a six against Jadeja and then hit a four on the very next ball. He then completed his second century of his Test career by stealing a run on a confident sweep shot against Ashwin. Southee supported him well from the other end by hitting brilliant sixes. Due to this, the Indian bowlers came under pressure and started bowling defensively. Their 132-ball aggressive partnership was broken by Siraj by dismissing Southee. Kuldeep then trapped Ejaz Patel (four) LBW. While trying to hit a six, Ravindra hit Kuldeep’s ball in the air and substitute wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel made no mistake in catching it.
